Entertainment
by PaBurke
Summary: It’s all in how you define the terms. Part of the "Beta Daily Prompt" collection.
1. Chapter 1

Entertainment

by PaBurke

Distribution: The Nook

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, no money made, no characters created.

Spoilers: Season Three of Batman Beyond, specifically the episode Out of the Past.

Summary: It's all in how you define the terms.

Word Count: 500

"Superstitious, Cowardly Lot."

For one to call it 'singing' would have been way past generous and well into the lie territory, but the singing was one of the first sounds Barbara Gordon heard when entered her office early Saturday morning. She winced. She hadn't even had her second cup of coffee yet.

"Hiya, Commissioner."

"McGinnis," Barbara growled. "Tell me that you did not go to see that …_thing_."

"Batman, the Musical?" Terry was still grinning ear to ear. "I did. I even saved up to splurge; I took the Old Man for his birthday."

The comment startled Barbara. Surely McGinnis wasn't serious? The very idea was ludicrous. Hysterical. Bruce Wayne? At the Musical of Batman? She had meant to snort her disbelief but it came out as a very different sound.

McGinnis' eyes twinkled. "Was that a giggle I heard? From the hard-bitten, highly decorated, -Gotham's very own- Police Commissioner?"

"McGinnis." She let him know that he was treading on thin ice. "You did not come down here to tell me about Bruce's birthday."

"No. Though the flowers you sent him were appreciated. It distracted him from muttering about the horrible swarbage that I subjected him to for a couple minutes. Anyway, the South Docks. Have you heard of anything going down down there?"

It took a couple of moments for Barbara to switch gears; her mind had stalled on the idea of Bruce –at the Musical. "The South Docks? No. What do you have?"

"Unfortunately, nothing but suspicions."

"I'll double the cars patrolling the area for a little while."

"Thanks Commish. Maybe that'll push them into the dark." He got up to leave and started humming the melody to the Musical again.

"McGinnis."

"Yeah?"

"Singings not your forte. Don't quit your day job."

"It's my night job and if I don't hurry, I might be fired." And he was gone.

Barbara Gordon stared at the seat McGinnis had just vacated. Bruce –at the Batman Musical. She chuckled. She couldn't believe that Terry had conned Bruce into it. Bruce would have hated every single moment.

This was just too good to keep to herself. She dialed a familiar number and waited the three rings.

"Yes?"

"Tim, it's Barbara."

A heavy sigh. "Barbara. I'm fine. You don't have to keep checking up on me."

"I'm not."

"U-huh." It was funny how they fell into the same old bantering from fifty years ago.

"I'm passing on gossip."

"Oh?"

"The new kid took Bruce to see the Musical."

A stunned silence. "Not the one about Batman."

"That one."

"We wouldn't have even thought about doing that."

"You would have," Barbara corrected.

"Maybe, but I would have run it by you and you would have talked me out of it, for the sake of both our training schedules. He would have made our lives hell for even thinking about it." Then Tim Drake started laughing and then laughing even harder. Barbara hung up on him. She had done her good deed for the day.

*


	2. Chapter 2

Entertainment II

by PaBurke

Distribution: The Nook

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, no money made, no characters created.

Spoilers: Season One of JLU (episode This Little Piggy), Hints of Season Three of Batman Beyond, specifically the episode Out of the Past.

Summary: It's all in how you define the terms.

Word Count: 300

Terry McGinnis entered the small old-time diner and quickly found the person who had set up this meeting. The Police Commissioner of Gotham sat quietly in the corner.

"What's wrong?" Terry asked Barbara Gordan.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I wanted to thank you for passing on the fact about Bruce at the Batman Musical. I used my connections to get a hold of the surveillance vid of the audience. I watched every wince and grimace."

"And you couldn't send a note to say thanks?" Terry teased.

Barbara smirked and waved a little vid his way. "I wanted to return the favor."

Terry was surprised and laughed. He had never seen the former Batgirl so playful. "You can?"

"Oh yeah. If you want me to?"

"Giveme."

Barbara handed over the vid. "Don't let Bruce see it. It's from his glory days."

Terry flipped the vid over in his hands, quivering with excitement. "Anytime you want to return the favor, I think I'm going to say yes."

Barbara laughed. "You have to keep me in the loop to earn favors."

"You're as manipulative as the Old Man, you're just nicer about it."

"You're right," agreed the Commissioner as she left the diner. "Enjoy the vid."

"Oh, I will." Terry raced to the nearest vid galley and reserved an individual one for his use. He inputted the recording from Barbara and watched Batman Ising/I. He watched and laughed. At the end of the song, Terry reloaded the vid and watched it again, and again. Soon, he was singing along…

"Am I blue, Am I blue? Ain't these tears in my eyes telling you? Am I blue? You'd be too, if each plan that you had done fell through. There was a time, I was your only one, but now I'm the sad and lonely one…"

*


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